


It Changed

by Toryb



Series: Camp Bughead 2018 [5]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Buggie Break, Camp Bughead, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Royalty AU, Swan Princess AU, it's based off the movie, kind of, that one, the beginning song at the movie, the one everyone knows, you know the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 19:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15346659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toryb/pseuds/Toryb
Summary: Prince Forsythe and Princess Elizabeth have always been forced into situations with each other at the behest of their parents and their meddling. They hated each other. Pure and simple as that. But then...it changed.





	It Changed

**Author's Note:**

> Animation prompt for Buggie Break! I hope you guys enjoy it <3

The news that Princess Elizabeth was coming to visit had caused a serious set back in Prince Forsythe’s summer plans. Instead of spending the summer on the palace grounds or at the lake with his best friend Duke Archibald, he would be forced to entertain the bratty young princess from the kingdom across the sea. Every summer they were forced into this little dance as their parents hovered and negotiated dowries behind closed doors. She was the second princess, worth her weight in diplomatic relationships but little in the eyes of ruling, and he was the first prince, in line for kingship. What better way to create unity and strong relationships across their two nations.

 

Except, to the very pit of his stomach, he despised Princess Elizabeth. When they were younger, she would follow him and Archibald around, hiking up her skirts in such an unladylike way as she chased them and shouted obscenities she must have learned from a naughty housemaid who hadn’t taught her any better. When they were thirteen, she had started to blossom into a young woman, naturally, but even then he could hardly stand her. She would always linger around the guards and bat her eyelashes up at them until they melted for her. It was utterly ridiculous--when he became king he would fire them all and get a staff better behaved. If his future queen would let him.

 

Marriage had never been particularly appealing to the young prince. In fact, he would rather saw his own arm off than deal with the prospect, but that was not an option. After watching Archibald chase and woo and cycle through women, all the while holding his head through heartbreak and guiding him away from untouchable married women so his only confidant wouldn’t end up dead, he had experienced his fair share of womanly woes. But with Archie’s announcement of his own nuptials, the pressure had been placed firmly on his shoulders to do his country a favor and propose to the blushing young beauty from across the lake.

 

No. No not a beauty. A saccharine sweet liar who knew how to play heart strings like a fiddle and had hardly any common sense in her head. Elizabeth always behaved more like a lord than a lady. He doubted her time here would end any different than it usually did--with them screaming at each other as her father carried her back onto the boat after a torturous summer. Forsythe might as well start a collection of all the single shoes she had thrown at him over the course of seventeen years.

 

Forsythe stood at the dock, waiting as patiently as he could for her to arrive. This year his father had sent him separately with a carriage lead by three white horses. It was lavish to a point of ridiculousness. He watched the princess slowly make her way down, dressed in a soft pink gown and her hair cascading down past her shoulders in the gentlest of waves. Suddenly everything shifted.

 

The burning hatred he had of her escapades with the guards was replaced with an intense protectiveness--perhaps even a jealousy. The teasing way he’d pulled her hair, and the frustration when she became mad at him, made more sense. Everything tumbled into place. As his blue eyes met with her brilliant green ones, Forsythe watched a gentle blush creep across her features.

 

“Princess,” he all but whispered. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

 

“You as well, Forsythe.” Elizabeth’s eyes twinkled in the early morning glow as she extended out her hand for him.

 

When he was young, the very thought of kissing her hand made him sick. The first time he had ever been forced to do it ended with her smacking him and running far away. It was only on further reflection he realized that he had made her cry with his biting words. Today, his touch was gentle. His heart threatened to jump out of his skin.

 

As they entered the carriage--him guiding her up and making sure her dress was not caught--he sat across from her, drinking in every inch of beauty he had never appreciated until now. It felt so silly. So young. So naive to ever think that this girl was anything sort of spectacular.

 

“I trust your journey went well?”

 

The princess looked up at him and nodded. “Of course. This is not the first time I’ve traveled here on my own. I’m not the delicate wallflower most assume me to be.”

 

He laughed. “Oh I can attest to as much. Anyone who calls you that ought to have seen the look on Lady Cheryl’s face when you bested her at the archery competition last year simply because you wanted to prove me wrong.”

 

“And you were wrong, weren’t you? I never did hear you say it.”

 

“And you never will. Those are words I will take to my grave, Elizabeth.”

 

Their teasing felt different now, not as strained as it had when they were younger, and the way she looked at him through long eyelashes was nearly flirtatious. He hoped that perhaps every time she learned a bit closer to him it was with intention.

 

“Have I mentioned yet how lovely you look?”

 

“Well it certainly wouldn’t hurt to mention it again even if you had. It’s the polite thing to do. Not that I much expect hospitality from you.”

 

“I will endeavour to behave that you expect it in the future then.”

 

Before they even reached the castle, the air between them had shifted into something he could not quite explain. She walked closer by his side, arms wrapped around his--an act that would have sent him retching only a year ago. Perhaps it was the onset of maturity that changed his view. Certainly he had never before looked at her the way he did now.

 

As they entered the hall, music began to play, no doubt the work of his meddling parents. Beside him, Elizabeth’s laughter filled the room. It was even more beautiful than the harpist’s gentle strums. She turned to face him with the same determination he had seen all those years ago when she’d climbed the trees up to his and Archibald’s treehouse to prove to them she could.

 

“Would you care to dance, Prince?”

 

He smiled and took her hands, pulling her closer. “I would be honored to.”

 

Together, they spun around the floor, keeping time with the music as two artfully trained royal youths should. It was a far cry from the first time they had been instructed together. Back then, it had been stomping feet, broken shoes, and bleeding toes that needed icing by the end of the sessions. Now, they spun with grace, perfectly in time with each other. As the number ended, the delicate sounds of her breathing enraptured him to move ever closer. Forsythe pulled her close to his chest, kissing the temple of her head.

 

“If you are going to kiss me,” she spoke up, “At least do it properly.”

 

Without protest, he did.


End file.
